“The Winner Takes It All”: Rarely has the song title of the Musikgruppe Abba better suited a football game than this year’s final in the Europa League. Because the winner, Tottenham Hotspur, took a 1-0 (1-0) against Manchester United, which resulted from an own goal of defender Luke Shaw in the 42nd minute of play, actually everything: the cup, the starting point for the Champions League, the millions and the glory.
All of this is for Tottenham, previously uncrowned since 2008, the compensation for the thoroughly misjudged league season; While United for the equally weak performance in the Premier League now has to come to a certain extent. The defeat, which sealed for Manchester United for a coming season without international football, resembles a look at the Nervión river flowing past the stadium. Its water looks as cloudy as the prospects of the club.
:Müller’s critical words to say goodbye
Despite the Ibiza trip, FC Bayern won the last game of the season 4-0 in Hoffenheim. Thomas Müller is only applauded from the entire stadium – then he has to get rid of a message.
The fact that it worked for Tottenham, of all places, fit in that the club, who was formerly a long -time world -class scorer of the club, Harry Kane, also celebrated his first title as a professional this season with the championship at Bayern. This also solved Posetecoglou’s trace trainer to always get at least one trophy in his career in the first two seasons. The Australian came to the Spurs in the summer of 2023. After the final whistle, the cheers of the Spurs knew no end – it seemed as if a curse had fallen off the club.
49 224 Almost exclusively British spectators formed a worthy final frame in Bilbao’s stadium San Mamés. Both fan camps took possession of the downtown closed during the day, as if Bilbao were an English enclave. They drank, ate and celebrated in the many wonderful Pinchos bars, as the snacks are called in the Basque Country-even in the awareness that there would be no reason for one of the two clubs for the foreseeable future. The previously flawless sun sky over Bilbao moved together a few hours before the start of the game, as if the weather could guess that two permanent crisis clubs had agreed in the San Mamés stadium. It became windy and gray.
The curious own goal fit in the course of the game
Rain, lightning and thunder ultimately remained in the cloud cover, but it went to the point on the pitch. The first half was drawn by a series of fouls, interruptions and standards. Both teams avoided the risk and prevented the ambitions of the opponent at an early stage-as is so often the case in this Europa League season. In addition, there was the nervousness of the players in the final, which expressed themselves in atypical light technical mistakes. So the most striking player in this torn match was sometimes the sovereign game director Felix Zwayer, who repeatedly had to affect the players. He was the first German final referee in the Europa League since Felix Brych, who had managed the final eleven years ago.
The back and forth in the course of the game reflected the season of the two clubs. The only real chance before the change of sides came for United after a corner kick when right -wing Amad Diallo aimed at the replacement (16th minute). The fact that Tottenham was still ahead was due to the curious own goal of Shaw (42nd). The Englishman accidentally steered the ball into the net with the upper arm from a short distance, after it was deflected by the opposing attacker Brennan Johnson with the sole of the foot after a previous flank. The type of hit summarized the game pointed.
The deficit forced Manchester after the restart of increasing the speed of the game. The eleven of coach Rúben Amorim expanded the possession of the ball to more than 65 percent, the Spurs pushed back to the penalty area – but successful final situations still hardly resulted from the game. It became the most dangerous again after a standard when United’s striker Rasmus Höjlund headed to the empty goal after a misunderstanding. But trace defender Micky van de Ven saved for his beaten keeper (68th).
Manchester United threw everything forward in the final minutes. But this time there was not a late goal again and again. Instead, after the final whistle, the great bewilderness over the worst season of the club has broken out since time immemorial. The Abba Group once wrote that the loser had to fall.